X

Katrina Kaye

One tied to my
left wrist,

wraps silver around
ring finger,
pulls with
all his might.

He wants to keep
me. Take me away
in a whirlpool of
reckless dreams
doomed to dissipate.

He knows nothing
of the cruelty
of the earth.

The other
strapped herself
to right ankle,

wants nothing
more than my smile,
says she loves me.

I stopped calling
her a liar.

She wants me to walk
on her, wants to be
my road, holds me
firmly to the ground.

I am tied,
pulled in
opposition

and have grown tired
of the struggle.

All I want is
to touch
my own skin.

Yet I still
tremble at the
thought of being
let go.

“X” is previously published in September (2014).

Wing

Katrina Kaye

She stretches out,
lifting and lowering,
attempting to blend into background.

The magnificence of blue wing
is impossible to hide.
It is why they watch.

But she has an under coating,
dark brown spots and fine fur
blends to oak bark.

If she holds wings erect,
as opposed to flat,
she materializes to earth.

When she closes
herself to the sun,
like a brilliant iris
hidden by eyelid,
she becomes
her own.

The sparkle of blue metallic,
the flash and grab against sunlight,
is not her downfall,
it is what draws them,

but it is her underside,
the plain spots of ordinary wing
that keep her
free.

“Wing” is previously published in the collection, my verse…, published by Swimming with Elephants Publications, LLC in 2012.

Katrina Kaye

I would love
to catch you
for a moment,

like an
inconsequential lie,
a fallen bird
I can teach again to fly,

and when you are
basking in your own sun,
send me a postcard
of the life you’ve won.

With scrawled note
telling me
you don’t need me anymore.

With scrawled signature
saying
Thank you.

“Bird” is previously published in To Anyone Who Has Ever Loved a Writer (2014).